


Hardened Steel is the Most Brittle

by FlawedVictori



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-18 19:51:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20197201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlawedVictori/pseuds/FlawedVictori
Summary: Vlana is called upon to investigate the mysterious death of a praxic warlock, one whom had been investigating someone close to her.Basically written entirely for me and my friends, tbh.





	1. Stomped Out

"I'm so sorry." Luna-18 says, her gun still smoking.

The corpse of the praxic warlock doesn't respond, and neither does her ghost, its dead shell laying at her feet.

"I didn't have a choice." She says, her hand shaking. 

/

"Guardian." Ikora says, nodding tersely.

"'Kora." Vlana replies, stretching slightly and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "You know, I'd just gotten to sleep. This better be important."

"Would I call you if it wasn't?" Ikora asks, her eyes narrowing, and Vlana holds up her hands, yawning. 

"I'unno. Maybe you just want to hang out, get ramen or something, maybe-"

"One of my warlocks is dead, Vlana." Ikora says, simple and to the point, and Vlana blinks.

"Yeah, that's... shit. What do you need?"

Ikora gives a little sniff, turning away to look out at the city.

"I need the killer found, and brought to justice. I intend to ask them why." A mirthless chuckle. "Bring them in alive. Understood?"

Vlana shakes her head. "Y'know, this ain't exactly my specialty. Don't you have some warlock who can do this, or something? Send one of those Hidden of yours."

"I am." Ikora says, turning and bowing her head slightly. "A position has opened up, and you've proven your worth. Don't disappoint me, Guardian."

She holds out a datapad, presumably full of the case info...

And Vlana just blinks at that, biting back a dozen snarky responses and inquiries about the pay.

"Don't worry, Ikora. I won't." she says, eventually, taking the pad and nodding.

There's a quiet moment, and...

"Thank you." They both say, nearly in unison. 

They share a nod, and Vlana excuses herself, heading for the victim's apartment.

She had a job to do, and she intended to see it through.

/

"Fuck..." Vlana mutters, staring down at the corpse.

Ikora's notes had mentioned that no one had been into Alice Dren's apartment since the body had been discovered, so she'd mentally prepared for the mess, but...

There was something about knowing her name and what kind of woman she'd been that made everything... a bit worse.

Sure, she'd seen her fair share of bodies, and she still remembered killing more than a few guardians of her own back when she was alive the first time, but...

"This is...brutal." She murmurs, bending down to close the corpse's eyes. "Don't worry, Alice. I'll find who did this."

There were two tell-tale spikes in her chest, one in her head... and one in the shell of her ghost, which meant...

"A Thorn." Vlana says, shaking her head. "A dredgen did this... or..."

She just shakes her head again, looking towards the computer sitting on the nearby counter.

"Time to do some research. Hope you kept detailed notes, buddy..."


	2. Slow it Down

Alice, it seemed, kept _very_ good notes. Almost exhaustively so.

They certainly exhausted _Vlana_, anyway.

They detailed her investigation into a group of Dredgens, the lengths they'd gone to and all their activities and suspected activities for nearly five years back, each account containing explicit detail and lengthy personal notes.

It was boring as hell... until she reached the last entry.

The entries before had chronicled the search for one of the Dredgens who Alice was convinced had killed a guardian before resetting herself to escape justice, and this one was no different, at first. 

Until she saw the personal note.

/

_ **Through exhaustive research, bribery, and tracing records of incoming guardians to the City over the last three years, I've finally compiled a list of exo guardians that reset in the suspected time frame.** _

_ **I've double and triple checked it, as well as cross-referencing with the city departures and casualty lists from the Red War.** _

_ **This, of course, took several months to do, and I've never hated record-keeping bots more, but I think I finally have a solid lead.** _

_ **There's only two Exos who reset in that timeframe; Omen-10, who's gone through several resets since (whats up with that girl?) and has continued to be a stand-up member of the Praxic order... And Luna-17, a woman I've been unable to find much info on. ** _

_ **Luna-18, of course, has become a crucible star and is apparently romantically involved with one of Ikora's prospects... But that doesn't excuse murder, and won't preclude her from the justice at hand.** _

_ **No one is above the law, and I won't let any murderers escape the Praxic Fire.  
** _

_ **Alice Dren** _

/

Vlana stares for a while.

Just looking blankly at the screen, wide-eyed and... 

Worried. Extremely worried.

It was... new, and not exactly welcome.

"Fuck." She mutters, squeezing the bridge of her nose. "Fuck!"

She'd never dug into Luna's past, and Luna had returned the courtesy as their relationship developed, never prying, never digging in to find all the terrible things Vlana had done, and yet-

"Fuck, Luna..." Vlana mutters, her head in her hands. "What the fuck am I gonna do?"

She needed a plan, and needed to know more than she did now, and...

"Fuck, fuck fuck fuck." She mutters, kicking the desk. "Fucking... alright, alright, I can do this."

She slips a pen drive into the computer, and copies everything over. 

All the files, all the notes, all the damning evidence... it can all be saved for later. 

When she's gotten to the bottom of all this.

Then, she stands up, draws her own Thorn, and empties the clip into the computer.

She breaks it to bits, the telltale spikes wreaking havoc as she reloads and fires again.

Whether or not Luna had anything to do with the death, whether or not she'd need to bring her in... Well, Ikora had explicitly told her Alice's case was for her hands only.

By the time she leaves the apartment, the computer is shredded and she's got an idea.

She needed someone to question, someone who'd known Luna longer than she had, someone who'd always been more secretive than anyone else about her past.

She needed Riptide, and luckily, she knew exactly where she'd be.

Now all she needed was a way to convince her to answer her questions...


	3. Becoming Your Biggest Fear

The knock comes early, but Riptide is just awake enough to answer it.

She's not quite sure what time it is, only that it's Too Fucking Early for this shit, and so she grabs her holster before heading into the living room.

She stumbles towards the door, and when she finally pulls it open, Vlana's standing there.

But something's... off. 

Gone was the somewhat cheery gunslinger who would roll her eyes at everyone's antics while trying to hide her grin, gone was the perfectly tousled hair, the carefully-applied lipstick, the expertly coordinated armor that always clashed with the ratty cloak she'd refused to leave behind, even in her civvies. 

The woman standing in front of her wasn't even carrying that weird bladed handcannon she'd always kept on her, just a stock-standard revolver hanging from her belt.

Her civvies might have been the same, Black slacks and an undone tie over a white button-up, but the absence of the cloak and her dead-eyed stare made her look less like a butch with a weird fashion sense and more like a hired killer.

"Hey, Vlana." She starts, more than a bit weirded out by the changes. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I need to ask you about Luna." Vlana says,and her heart drops.

"Is she okay?" She asks, swallowing, and Vlana...

Vlana blows air out her nose, stepping forward, nearly into her apartment. "Luna _seventeen_, Riptide."

And somehow, her heart gets even lower, as old memories start to surface... along with the newer knowledge that Vlana had been doing a lot jobs for Ikora lately.

There's a chill that runs through her as everything starts to dawn on her, and she shakes her head. 

"Why's it matter? She's already reset. You should really ask her about this stuff, not me. Now, I need to sleep, so..." She goes to shut the door, but Vlana puts her foot out, stopping it in place as her hand twitches towards her revolver.

Riptide's ready for her... but Vlana doesn't draw, instead just boring into her with those dead eyes, before saying the two words she'd never wanted to hear again.

"Dredgen Lua, then." She says, stepping closer again. "Tell me about her, so I don't have to ask someone else."

Riptide freezes... but she's already thinking this through, her mind racing to find a way to help her friend... and landing on bluster. "Mind your own fucking business, Vlana. Last I checked, you were supposed to care about Luna, not butt into her past. It doesn't even involve you!"

"Tell me, or I swear I'll-" Vlana starts, and Riptide draws, but Vlana's just as quick.

In the blink of an eye, they've got their guns pointed at each other's heads, and Riptide's forcing down the memories of all the time they've spent together to prepare herself for the next part.

"Back off, Vlana." She practically hisses,her gun shaking, just a bit. "For your own good. Just go home and forget everything you've heard."

Vlana's gun doesn't waver, doesn't shake, and neither do those dead eyes, staring deep into Riptide's own as she cocks the hammer back and gives what's unmistakably an order. 

"Tell me what you know."

And that's when it hits her, that the carefree, friendly woman she'd become friends with, the one who'd never hesitated to pay for meals or throw herself into danger to help one of them...

She was gone, maybe she'd never been real in the first place, and all she had now was a dead-eyed killer.

And Riptide wants to shoot, to kill her, maybe toss her body into a sun and live with the guilt...

But she just lowers the gun, swallowing down tears.

"Please, Vlana."

"Tell me."

"Please, just... just don't hurt her, okay? That's all I'm asking, just..." She swallows, stepping closer, and Vlana adjusts her aim... before lowering her gun as well, looking... almost ashamed. 

Riptide doesn't stop, though, still looking into those eyes, desperately trying to find the friend she'd known. "Vlana, please. I'll beg if you want me to, just...don't kill her, okay?"

Vlana looks away. "She killed a guardian, didn't she? Before her reset?"

"Yeah." Riptide confirms, shaking slightly. "Yeah, she did, but... you don't have to kill her for it. You could-"

"I can't." Vlana says, quietly. "Goodbye, Riptide."

And she turns on her heel and walks away, as Riptide feels her world break down around her.

/

Vlana's breaking, too.

Riptide had confirmed everything she'd already knew, and she hated everything it meant.

Carver's gun was heavy in her holster, and pointing it at Riptide had felt... right.

And she hated that too. 

She hated the sick glee that had risen up in her when she'd been staring down Riptide's barrel and waiting for her to pull the trigger, hated how much she loved the rush of having her life at risk, hated everything about the situation she'd been forced into...

And she hated how much Marielda's 'training' had affected her, how it was interwoven into everything that made her tick, hated how she'd felt more comfortably pointing a gun at her friend than she ever had smiling with her.

And she hated how right Marielda had been. How being a hired killer was all she was good at, really.

/

She heads towards the airdock first, some ineffable instinct pulling her there, the kind of thing she'd learned to trust, but it turns out to be wrong.

Luna's jumpship is still parked in her hangar, and for a moment, everything seems easier.

It won't be nearly as hard to find Luna if she's still in the city, after all.

And then Vlana turns towards Luna's passion project, that instinct driving her again, and everything stops.

She just stares at the empty space where the long-range hauler had been, disbelief rising in her.

She'd never expected the old girl to fly, and yet... it was gone.

Which meant Luna could very well be at the edge of their galaxy, or even further.

She was gone.

And the break Vlana had been pushing away hits, all at once.

She doesn't think, doesn't question herself, just letting her feet move her.

Everything is blissfully, wonderfully numb, and she lets it wash over her as her hands hotwire a hauler.

Dio chirrs something at her, but she doesn't bother listening, only one goal in mind.

She needed to find Luna, and she wouldn't let anything distract her from it.


	4. Shoot Me Now

_Dionysus Extended Silence Log, Day 1_

_I'm worried._

_It's been quite some time since the last time my guardian was... focused, like this._

_She hasn't responded to a word I've said since discovering Luna's disappearance._

_I only hope we find her soon. Vlana's focus can be dangerous, for her and everyone else._

/

_Dionysus Extended Silence Log, Day 3_

_I was right._

_My guardian has been refusing to eat, and only drinking water to keep her mind sharp._

_I've tried reaching out to her, but she still isn't responding._

_There's been no progress on the Luna front, but the tight grid pattern she's searching in is a testament to how efficient Vlana can be when she's like this._

_I don't like it._

/

_Dionysus Extended Silence Log, Day 7_

_I'm terrified._

_We've officially been searching for Luna longer than it took us to track Uldren down, but there's still no progress._

_I don't know how much longer Vlana can go, and by this point, Luna is almost certainly out of the system._

_I don't know what she'll do if we don't find her soon._

/

_Dionysus Extended Silence Log, Day 9_

_We've found her._

_The hauler's been set adrift on the edge of our system, but I can feel someone inside of it._

_I'm just glad we found her before Vlana's obsession destroyed us both._

/

Luna raises her head for the first time in days when the figure steps into view.

It's Vlana, she can recognize that much... but she knows why she's here.

Vlana's bringing the death she deserves, and she wants to just give in.

Let her pull the trigger, end it.

But she can't.

As Vlana steps silently forward, Luna-18 raises her gun...

And fires.

Once, and Vlana flinches back from the shot, red flowers blooming on white cloth.

Twice, and she just keeps coming, not even showing the pain of the gut shot.

Thrice, and she's there.

But Vlana doesn't draw, doesn't fire.

Luna flinches away as she wraps her arms around her, refusing the comfort...

But even the hardest metal has to be weak somewhere, and somehow, it brings her back into focus.

She cries, but Vlana is there, and a small part of her starts to think that maybe, just maybe... it'll all be okay.

/

Vlana hugs her tight as she cries, a billion emotions sweeping through her.

Relief that she'd finally found her, physical and emotional pain from the shots Luna had fired, and... 

Conviction. Absolute, unshakable conviction that she would do whatever it took to protect Luna, no matter what it did to her.

Once Luna's all cried out and asleep in her arms, she lifts her into a bridal carry and nods to herself.

"Dio?" She whispers, her throat aching from disuse and the hunt she'd been on, "Send a message to Riptide for me."

"Of course." He chirrs back. 

"And, Dio..." She starts, swallowing. "I won't-"

"I know." Is his response. "Your secret is safe with me. But what are we going to tell Ikora?"

"I'll figure that out."

/

The knock comes late, but Riptide is wide awake and ready for it.

She pulls the door open the moment she hears it, stepping out of Vlana's way.

"Where can I put her?" Vlana asks, Luna still cradled in her arms, and Riptide just nods at a couch, still in a bit of shock. 

Vlana does as she says, before stretching out the ache in her back. "God, she's heavier than she looks."

"Tell me about it." Riptide says, shaking her head. "No one saw you, right?"

Vlana just snorts, turning away. "I'm a professional. Take care of her, okay?"

"I will." Riptide promises, staring a hole into Vlana's back. "And... thanks, Vlana."

Vlana doesn't say anything, just heading back out the door she'd came in, and Riptide stares after her for a moment... before tending to Luna.

She'd need food, and lots of water, and probably a shoulder to cry on, and luckily for her, Riptide had all three.

Still...

She turns and looks back at the door again, shaking her head as she locks it.

"I'll never understand that girl."

/

Connor Martin had never been your average killer.

He was the best in the business, and he was always willing to gloat about it to anyone who'd listen.

His assassinations were always discreet, quiet, and best of all, completely untraceable. He couldn't even count the number of times he'd been brought in for questioning, only to be released when they couldn't make shit stick.

He was a gunman without peer, the best in the world, the fastest draw in the city...

So when the awoken woman strolls into his apartment like she owns the place, he just scoffs at her.

"Ain't you Marielda's bitch?" He asks, and the moment she opens her mouth...

He draws, quick as a whip and ten times as deadly-

And the gun is shot out of his hand before he can even fire, the awoken waving a silenced sidearm at him before throwing a handcannon his way.

He snatches it out of the air, raising an eye brow at her...

And she grins. 

"Try again. Maybe this time-"

And he fires.

Once, twice, thrice, and that's when her grin gets wider and she jerks her gun up and-

/

"Fuck." Vlana mutters, yanking a spike out of her shoulder. "These things hurt."

Dio doesn't respond, and that's fine with her.

She turns around to survey the scene, nodding to herself as she pulls that pen drive out of her pocket and summons a quick burst of flame to incinerate it.

"Okay, I think I can work with this."

/

"An assassin?" Ikora asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Vlana says, shrugging. "Seems like Alice'd been tracking him down? I don't know for sure, couldn't recover anything from her computer."

Ikora turns away, looking out over the city, her brow furrowing slightly. "And you say he had a Thorn?"

Vlana just shrugs. "Yeah. Almost got Dionysus with it before I took him down. Sorry I couldn't bring him in."

Ikora just shakes her head, still staring out at the city. "No, you're a much greater asset than he would be. You did the right thing, guardian."

She pauses for a moment, turning around to stare into Vlana's eyes. "Though, I must ask... How did you track him down? You said you didn't have much to go on."

Vlana grins, easy and bright. "I thought to myself, why would a dredgen use her thorn to break the computer, right? Like, sure, it worked, but what guardian would use their guns instead of the Light for something like that? And whoever shot it to shit was clearly a professional, and from there it was pretty easy." She shrugs. "Finding a professional assassin who'd been bragging about his new Thorn was pretty easy with my old contacts."

"I see." Ikora says, nodding solemnly. "You've done well, guardian. I'm proud to have you as one of my Hidden." 

"Thanks, 'Kora." Vlana says, that easy grin still on her face. "But, I do have one question."

"Yes, Guardian?"

"What's the pay like?"


End file.
